It's Compilcated
by The Calm Spy
Summary: Abigail is not your normal 17 year old girl. The summary is inside 'cause it is a little over 384 characters. Anyway, I hope you like it! There are no pairings for right now. Rated T just in case. Lillyxxx
1. Summary

Abigail Hienfield is the daughter of Heather Hienfield, and of course Colin Hienfield one the the smartest men to walk the earth. Ever since birth she has been in the limelight. No matter were she went someone recognized her. When she was 13 years old her parents died in a terrible lab accident. Now 17 years old, and her parents dead, Abigail is a senior in college. With almost no family left, Abigail is pretty much alone in the world. That is until one day her professor recommends she apply for an internship at Stark Industries. Upon applying she meets the one and only Tony Stark. Next thing you know Abigail is thrown into a whirlwind of unknown family secrets.


	2. Interviews & Run-ins

**A/N: Dear Readers, thank you for checking out my first book. I really hope you enjoy, and review.**

**Also I've contemplated on this idea of just combining the 1st and 2nd chapter together to make just one chapter, and that's what I have done. There is nothing added to what I have already wrote. So to those who have already read the 1st and 2nd chapter, no need for you to read over. Unless you want to, then feel free to read this chapter as many times as you like. :)  
**

**I own nothing Marvel. Just the OCs.  
**

**Lillyxxx**

* * *

**Stark Tower ****March 8th, 2003**

* * *

Abigail's P.O.V

I looked up at the huge building standing in front of me. Then looked down at a crumpled piece of paper in my hand that said, _"Dear Miss Hienfield, congratulations Stark Industries has selected you for the internship. You will have an interview at Stark Tower May 8th, 7:00 am._

Three weeks ago my college professor recommended me to apply for an internship at Stark Ind., he said it would challenge me more than my college classes. I was hesitant, but in the end applied anyway. I thought it probably wouldn't work out, but then I got this letter. It was definitely surprising. I didn't expect my application to even be looked over.

Now I was standing in front of the biggest building in New York with the biggest opportunity of my life. Of course I showed up. Even though I wasn't so sure in the beginning, the more I thought about it, I realized this could open so many doors.

Taking a deep breath I stuffed the letter into my pocket, and walked inside. Going up to the main desk I said, "Hi, I have a meeting.", the secretary replied, "Name." "Abigail Hienfield", I said in confidence. "Alright, you can take a seat, and Mr. Stane will be with you in a moment, she said motioning to a group of chairs. I was about to sit down when I realized what she had just said, and all my confidence drained from my body. "Wait, Stane? As in Obadiah Stane?, The secretary could sense my uneasiness 'cause she said, "Don't worry he isn't as scary as you think.", flashing me a sympathetic smile she turned back to her computer.

Less than Five minutes later I'm called into a huge office. It was amazing. There was a huge T.V. in the left corner of the room, a big "mini' fridge, and the decor was beautiful. I couldn't help but sigh with admiration.

"Nice, isn't it?", Obadiah asked snapping me out my trance.

"Yes, I suppose.", I said trying to sound confident again. "Please, take a seat.", Obadiah said motioning to the chairs in front of his desk. I sat down, and we began the interview.

* * *

**End Of Interview**

"At this moment I'm finishing my senior year in-"

"What do you want study in college?", Obadiah asked cutting me off

"Actually, I am in college. Like I was saying, I'm finishing my senior year in college.", I said trying not to get worked up over his rude behavior.

"Oh, it says here you're only 17.", he remarks looking down at my application.

"I am 17, but I graduated high school when I was 14.

"Impressive.", Obadiah said looking at a clock to the right of him. " Well, it's been a pleasure meting you, but it seems that we'll have to bring this meeting to a closing.", he says as he stands from his desk chair.

Following him I stood up and shook his hand then said, "It was a pleasure talking to you.", with that I turned to leave. Walking out the office door I mentally patted myself on the back for at least doing a decent job in the interview.

Making my way to the main lobby, I start to think about when I'll have the results. Obadiah didn't specify when. I mentally slapped my self for not asking. I took a left turn down a huge hallway. About 3 minutes later I realized I'm in the wrong place. I have ended up in a huge corridor with various conference rooms, and a big bottle fed water cooler. "Shoot." I thought to myself. I turned around to trace my steps back only to bump into someone**.  
**

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!", I told whoever I bumped into. I bent down to pick up an array of papers I had knocked out of the person's hands. "It's fine.", the person replied with a tight voice. Gathering all the papers I stood up, then got shoved back down by a group of business men walking by. Standing up again I shoved the papers into the person's hand quickly, and turned to the group. "Hey, watch it!", I yelled at them. "Idiots.", I muttered as they continued walking away ignoring me.

Just then another group of people came up to me. They were wearing suits, and looked very unhappy. "Mr. Stark, nice of you to grace us with your presence.", one of them said with a grimace.

"What do you mean ?", I asked them confused. Then the person I walked into replied saying, "I don't think they were talking about you kid."

I turned around to see a very uncomfortable and flustered Tony Stark. "You're Tony Stark.", I stated trying to suppress my uneasiness.

"Really?! I didn't know!, He said sarcastically.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to run into you!"

"I'm gonna guess, and say you aren't supposed to be standing here now.", He counters obviously ignoring my apology.

"Well yea, but-"

"Then why exactly are you here?"

"I made a wrong turn, ended up in this corridor.", I said gritting my teeth. Why was he so rude?

"Then maybe you should-"

"Tony!...I mean Mr. Stark.", a woman with strawberry blonde hair said to him scornfully as she walked up to him. Apparently she had heard the conversation while she was making her way to us.

Looking at the woman then me, he handed her the papers, cleared his throat, and turned to the business people.

"I'm sorry, am I late for something?", he said in a witty tone deciding to completely drown me out.

"Excuse me! Could you at least point me to the main lobby?", I said getting angrier.

"Follow this hall then turn right", the woman answered pointing behind her.

"Thank you.", and with that I push pass them following her directions.

When I made it back to the lobby the secretary flashed me a smile before I headed out the door. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, which was on silent up until now, and checked for messages. Scrolling through I see one from a close friend.

_**From:Emily **_

_**Received: 7:51 a.m. Today**_

_**Hey girly how has it been? Listen I happen to be in the city for a few...so how about lunch this afternoon?**_

Emily and I met at a recruitment for S.H.I.E.L.D 3 years ago, she was transferring from the FBI. S.H.I.E.L.D is an organization separate from the government. It deals with people with strange gifts, unexplainable events, and more. I've been with them since I was a little girl. Although I have never been on an actual mission. It's more of a "you may have a strange talent so we need to keep a close eye on you" relationship. They're right though I do have a strange talent, but I have never used it. It has always been sedated with this medicine I take everyday. I'm not even sure what I can do, but I remember one day I decided to skip my daily medicine dose. It was not the best idea.

Anyway, I was the youngest there, and Emily was the only person who didn't treat me like a kid. So of course she got stuck with me.

I pulled up a new message page, and replied.

_**To:Emily**_

_**Sent: 8:27 a.m. Today**_

_**Sure. How about Twisted Cafe? **_

_**From:Emily**_

_**Received: 8:31 a.m. Today**_

_**Kk...sounds good I'll meet you there around 12:30**_

With that I shoved my phone back in my pocket, and made my way back home.


	3. What Just Happened

**A/N: Alright so I took down chapters 1 & 2, and combined them to make one chapter. Nothing is changed so no need to read chapter one over if you have already read it. I just stuck to what I had already written. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Tell me what you think by reviewing. Lillyxxx **

_**Recap:**_

_**To:Emily**_

_**Sent: 8:27 a.m. Today**_

_**Sure. How about Twisted Cafe? **_

_**From:Emily**_

_**Received: 8:31 a.m. Today**_

_**Kk...sounds good I'll meet you there around 12:30**_

With that I shoved my phone back in my pocket, and made my way back home.

* * *

After about an hour of walking, or at least trying to walk on a crowded sidewalk, I made it home. Home was a decent sized studio apartment, and when I say decent sized I mean for a full-time college student with no job. Not that I really needed a job. My father was Colin Hienfield founder of Hienfield Co. a Science and Engineering company.

However, I only got 20% of the money my father had left me until I was 21. Then I would get the full amount. Even though 20% should have been enough because my father was a billionaire I used most of it for my college books, other materials I needed, and sometimes I had to pay for my classes because it wasn't in the company's budget.

Hienfield Co. was now being run by an old friend of my fathers. Her name was Felicia Waters. She was close to the family, but I don't know if she's actually fit to run a company. Even though my father set up money aside in a separate company bank account for my college funds. It has been "borrowed" because money was tight.

Once inside I plopped down on my couch. Looking around I noticed that there were various food containers, clothes and papers strewed around the place.

"Someone should probably clean this up.", I said to myself. Looking around once more I sighed and muttered,"And, that would be me." I got up tied my hair in a messy bun, and started to clean.

I finished spraying down and wiping the kitchen counter, and exhaled in relief that I was finished. I put away the cleaning supplies then looked up at my clock. It said 10:52 a.m., Emily said she would meet me at Twisted Cafe around 12:30 so I decided to jump in the shower and get ready.

* * *

_**Twisted Cafe**_

I watched the Cafe door eagerly for Emily to walk in. It was almost 1:30 and I was getting worried.

"Excuse me.", someone said with an annoyed tone

I tore my eyes from the door and saw a waitress standing in front of me.

"Oh, I'm not ready to order yet.", I said turning my attention back to the door.

"Listen, you've been sitting here almost an hour. Order something or leave."

I turned back to her with a "Are you kidding me " expression on my face. There were people who had been here since I arrived that were just sitting around on their laptops. She happily returned me expression with a dirty look.

"Oh I'm sorry do you have somewhere else to go? 'Cause I don't see any of the other customers being rushed.", I said returning her attitude.

"Fine, take as long as you want", she said about to walk off.

"Actually now that I think about it, I'll just order now.", I said with a charming smile.

* * *

**_1 Hour Later_  
**

It was almost 2:30. Something was wrong, Emily wouldn't be this late. I checked my phone messages for the 50th time, no new messages. Something was seriously wrong she would have at least texted me.

Just then a group of guys walked in. They took a seat to the far left of me. Something was off about them, they didn't look like the friendliest bunch. I couldn't help but follow them with eyes. I slowly positioned my self so I could see them, only to catch 2 of them staring at me. They are all dressed in suits, and I can make out an ear piece on one of them.

'Don't let them know you're on to them', I mentally thought. I noticed that the same waitress that had served me was standing in the same direction as them. Perfect. "Check please.", I said acting like I was actually looking for her. With a roll of the eyes she gave me the total then told me I had to go up to the register to pay.

After paying I headed out the door eager to forget that strange encounter. I can't though, something wasn't right about those people. I started to walk down the sidewalk, and I couldn't shake the feeling of someone following me. I turned around and saw those group of men walking in the same direction as me.

Panicked I started to run. As I shoved through the crowd I could hear them screaming "Get back here kid!" I made a sharp left, and ran across the street. I don't know what they want, but I didn't want find out. I slowed down to a jog thinking I lost them.

I take a minute to take in my surroundings while I jog. I definitely wasn't in the nice part of New York. This place looked rough not all the way, but it was getting there. Some of the buildings had graffiti on them, the streets had loose trash on them, and there were lots of dark ally ways that didn't look to inviting.

"Shoot.", I thought to myself. I had no idea where I was, and there was a group of strange men after me. This had to have something to Emily being M.I.A.

After a moment I started to walk again. I noticed that a group of people who were standing near a small car were talking. The had just drove up and parked there a minute ago. I debated in my mind whether or not to go up to them and ask for directions. I really didn't want to be in this part of New York.

"Hey, kid you need help?", one of them yelled. 'Looks like they decided for me', I said in my mind.

"Umm, yea sure. I'm kinda lost.", I replied. They can't be as bad as those men chasing me right?

"You look lost too.", A girl said. As I got closer I studied them. There were two girls, and three guys. They looked decent, not the nicest, but decent.

"Here let us help you.", said one of the guys guy.

Next thing you know I'm being pinned to their car.

"Let me go.", I screamed as I tried to get out of the guy's tight grasp.

"No can do princess. We got direct orders to bring you in.", said one of the girls

I screamed in pain as the dude twisted my arm

"Stop moving.", another guy yelled at me, then hit me in my head.

I couldn't let them take me. They were probably working with those other people. Gathering up the courage, I stomped on the guy who was pinning me down's foot. He stumbled back. Then the girls came after me. One pulled my hair then threw me to the ground, and the other one kicked me. I screamed, I was in more agonizing pain than before.

Just then someone came up behind the 2 guys.I couldn't really see anything, but he hit the first one knocking him out instantly, than proceeded to take out the other people. After finishing them off he walked over to me, and help me up.

"Are you okay?", he asked.

As I looked at him I realized he was one of the people who had chased me. I hastily pushed him away, and backed away from him.

"Stay away from me!", I said to him.

Staying where he was he said,"It's nice to meet you Miss Hienfield. I'm Agent Coulson"

"How do you know my name?", I asked him.

"I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D, your friend Emma or something like that was told to keep you safe. She's been compromised.

I calmed down once he said he was from S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Keep me safe from what?"

Just then the rest of the men show up in a van. They all jump out, and see my attackers who are now laying limp on the ground. After a few seconds one of them pressed his ear then said, "Subject Obtained."

"That's not whats important at this moment.", he turned to see the people hauling the bodies to the van then jumping inside.

"We'll be in touch.", he said to me. With that he turned and walked away from me. He was about to get inside the van as well, but he turned to me. "Oh, and you want to go that way", he said pointing north of him. He got in the van, and they drove away.

I must have walked for a long time because when I checked my phone the time said 4:45. All I wanted was to get home. I was exhausted, dirty, confused, and upset. What was I supposed to have been kept safe from? How did Emily get compromised? Better yet, What the heck just happened? S.H.I.E.L.D. has never really taken that much interest in me.

All I had were questions. Questions that I wanted to forget. S.H.I.E.L.D. was okay, but that didn't mean I wanted to be involved in their drama. I finally made it home, and as I walked up the steps I pushed everything to the back of my head. Once inside I decided to just relax the rest of the day. This involved trash T.V., unhealthy snacks, and Chinese takeout for dinner.

When I looked at the clock again it was 8:00 p.m. deciding to turn in early tonight I got up and took a warm shower, threw on some pjs, and fell asleep immediately.

* * *

May 15th, 2003

It had been a week since the interview at Stark Tower. I was getting anxious. What if they had already picked someone? I had class in the morning so I got up around 6:00 a.m. , and got ready. Right now I'm working on my degree in astrophysics. I had only been in college for 2 years, but I was more advanced.

Once I finished getting ready, I grabbed a yogurt, a jacket, my book bag and headed out. Today we were starting our college exams. I wasn't nervous though. Stuff like math and science came easy to me. I don't mean to brag or anything, but was doing trigonometry in high school.

Once I made it to my college I sat down. We began once almost everyone was there.

I tapped my pencil as I stopped to read each question. I have to admit some questions were a bit tricky, but I got through them. The exam was about 55 questions long. I spent about an hour on the test, looking over each question once more. Then I turned it in. I was the first to be done.

I went back to my seat grabbed my jacket and book bag, and left. It was only around 8:00 so I decided to just walk around New York. That was pretty much my day, other than stopping at hotdog venders to get a snack.

Around 6:00 p.m. I decided to go home. I trudged up the flight of stairs that lead to the floor my apartment was on. Before going to my apartment though I stopped to get my mail.

Once inside I threw it on the counter and grabbed a cold root beer from my fridge. I opened it then turned back to the pile of mail. Going through it all I saw was bill after bill. Then IT was there. A letter from Stark Industries. I grabbed a knife quickly and opened it.

_**Dear Miss Hienfield, After much thought and consideration we are very pleased to say you are selected for the Stark Industries internship. You will start May 20th. You will report to our research lab in Long Island, and your shift will be from 8:00 to 4:00. We look forward to working with you. **_

_**Sincerely, Obadiah Stane.**_


	4. First Day & Hacking

**Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel, just the Ocs. **

**Recap**

_**Dear Miss Hienfield,**_

_** After much thought and consideration we are very pleased to say you are selected for the Stark Industries internship. You will start May 20th. You will report to our research lab in Long Island, and your shift will be from 8:00 to 4:00. We look forward to working with you. **_

_**Sincerely, Obadiah Stane.**_

* * *

_**May 20th  
**_

I woke around 5:30 to get ready for my first day. I wasn't sure what to wear. I wanted to look nice on my first day, but as I looked through my closet I realized my options are limited. I not the type of person that has rows of heels, various miniskirts, and anything remotely girly. I had more of a laid back style.

I practically tore apart my closet looking for something at least decent. After a while I settled on a nice Armani sky blue sweater, a pair of black slacks, and my favorite black flats. I wasn't much, but it would do.

Then I took a shower, and got ready. Once I finished I grabbed a bagel for breakfast, stuffed the letter in my favorite messenger bag, and left.

I made it to the research lab at 7:45, it was slightly farther from where I lived than the Stark tower. Still I was close, and thank goodness because I had to ride the subway there. Anyway once I made it there I walked up to the main desk.

"Excuse me." I said to the receptionist who was typing on a computer.

"Can I help you?", she said not looking up from the computer once.

"Umm...Yes, I'm the new intern, and I'm looking for a...Ms. Wallace?

A woman from the lab had called me a couple of days earlier, she wanted to make sure I had all the information I needed. She told me to ask for a Ms. Wallace, she would be the one I would be shadowing the first couple of weeks.

"You must be Abigail.", a voice said behind me. I turned around to see a woman in her 20's. She had long auburn hair, dark green eyes, and a friendly smile. "I'm Andria Wallace.", she said extending her hand for me to shake.

I smiled back at her and shook her hand.

"Well it's nice to finally meet you Abigail. I have heard Obadiah sing nothing but praise about you."

"He has?", I said surprised. In the interview he seemed rather bored with me.

"Oh yes, I am looking forward to working with you. Now first things first, I'll give you a tour." She motioned for me to follow her.

This place was amazing! There were 4 separate labs, a testing room, 2 lunch rooms, and a huge research archive connected.

"For now you will be shadowing me. After a couple of weeks you'll be the intern of Doctor Harrison, you'll meet him later on. Okay?", she said as we walked back to lab 1.

I was so lost for words. I couldn't believe this was happening.

When we made it back to lab 1, and I saw a girl about my age sitting at the computer in the corner. " Ms. Wallace, you are needed in the archives."**_,_ **someone said as the walked past the lab. Ms. Wallace turned to me and said, "I will be right back just don't touch anything.", then she walked away.

I sighed loudly then leaned against the experiment table. I stood there in silence for a moment observing the girl. She had platinum blond hair with pink streaks, and her outfit was a simple jeans and tee. She looked worried, and stressed as she hunched over the computer. I decided to speak up.

"Hi, I'm Abigail.", I said as I walked up behind her. She didn't respond. "What are you doing?", I said making her jump.

"Gosh, could not do that?", she said turning to face me. "What did I do?", I asked curious.

"You were literally on the other side of the room a second ago. What did you do teleport?"

"Well it's not like I just walked up behind you.", I replied sarcastically.

"I'm Alison", she said turning back to the computer.

"Cool, so what are you doing.", I said as I leaned in to get a better look. "Oh, hacking into a computer of Tony Stark's."

"Someones nosy", Alison remarked.

"And your stupid."

"Excuse me", she said glaring at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Well for starters you're SQL Injection coding is sloppy. I'm going to guess and say your hacking into his top computer, that would be JARVIS. If you don't want it traced back to you, it would be wise to use a different program.

"Listen this is nothing that concerns you."

"Right 'cause it looks like you've got everything under control", I said in a witty tone.

"Then what do you suggest?", She shot glancing at me.

"Well you could use a Keylogger, but of course you'd have to modify it so that it doesn't only get the info of what Tony is doing at the moment, but also any past actions."

"I don't know how to change a Keylogger."

"Well, you're in luck because I do.", I said as forced her out of the chair so I could see what I could do.

"Aren't you going to ask what it's for?"

"Does it have to do with a dangerous organization that is secretly plotting to take out Stark. Then get their hands on the arc reactor to make a portal to other worlds, so that they can declare war on the countless species that are dominant in this realm ."

"What? No.", she said probably questioning my sanity.

"Then it's most likely boring. So no thank you.", I said as I began to work on the coding.

I filled in gaps, and added what was needed in the coding. On average this would take 2-3 hours. For me it took less 15 minutes. Once I finished I scanned over it, 'cause you can never be to careful when hacking. Then I activated it. "Done.", I said satisfied with my work.

"Are you sure it'll work? It only took you like 10 seconds to do that.", she said obviously worried.

"Relax, this isn't the first time I've hacked something, and if it makes you feel better I put in some extra coding so that it's less likely he'll get through."

"What do you mean less likely?", she said freaking out.

"Come on this is Tony Stark, but if he gets through it will send him on a wild goose chase trust me."

"Famous last words.", she remarked with a small laugh

"Sorry I took so long.", I heard Ms. Wallace say as she entered the room. She looked at me and Alison then said with a small laugh, "Oh good you've met. I guess that makes one less person to introduce you to. Anyway, it's almost 12:30 so we'll get lunch, then I'll show my routine."

She turned to the door and motioned for me to follow her. "Oh thanks for helping me", Alison called.

"No prob.", I said back. I had a feeling we were going to be friends, even though she might not exactly like me now.

* * *

_**Miami**_

_**Tony Stark's P.O.V**_

_Welcome Mr. Stane _

I heard JARVIS say. He was probably just here to talk business. I have been cooped up in my lab the past week working on my new project. It was a simple DNA restoration experiment, but then I got to thinking if I could dissect the DNA structure more than the average break down it would show the entire, and I mean entire history of a human being. Than we could figure out if the primate theory of humans was actually correct.

"Tony.", I heard him yell.

"Down here."

"Well it's good to see you're alive.", he said as he entered my lab.

"Depends on your definition", I countered as I put my research away. Obadiah was a family friend and all, but he doesn't exactly approve of all my side projects. "So how's the company.", I asked.

"Good Stock is up by 10% this week."

Do you want a drink?, I asked as grabbed one from the fridge. After about 15 minutes of talking in the lab Obadiah said he could stand the smell. So we moved upstairs.

"How's that missile design going?", he asked denying a drink.

"Good I am almost done.", I said figuring out away to skip this conversation.

"What do you mean almost done? You should be done."

"How's that new assistant of yours?", I asked. I briefly remember him talking about a program, and hiring new people, I wasn't really listening.

"I don't have a new assistant Tony, but Stark Industries does have a new intern."

"Listen if you think about it a PA and an intern are nearly the same thing. Except that the intern might not have the slightest idea of what you're taking about, but will pretend to anyway."

"Well you'll be surprised about how much this intern understands."

"Oh really? I doubt it.", I said as I turned on the built-in computer in my kitchen's island. I installed it so I could have access to my lab work. The computer screen was basically a hologram that came out of a small slit in the middle of the island, and everything turned on with a small button underneath the counter.

"Her name is Abigail Hienfield.", he said turning to face the computer. He lifted his hand up and started scrolling through the company's files until he found hers. The file was nearly blank with lots of holes of information. What was so special about her? Obadiah then took a seat on the opposite side of the island. I knew he was watching me intently so I didn't let confusion take over my facial expression. I was very unimpressed by the lack of info.

**Name: Abigail Hienfield**

**Age: 17**

**Date Of Birth: November, 1986**

**Social: Pending**

**Birth Place: Unknown**

**Field of Education: Varies**

**Degrees: astrophysics(Pending), ****Robotics**

**Parents: Unknown**

**Siblings:No**

**High school: Graduate Class of 2001  
**

**College: Graduate Class of 2002**

"So what exactly am I looking at?", I asked.

"Her file. Listen, I'm going to get straight to the point, I want you to meet her. I don't know if this is just a gut feeling, but this is not your normal 17-year-old girl.", Obadiah said in a serious tone.

"Of course not, what normal 17-year-old girl has a degree in robotics?", I said to him as I turn my computer off. "She sounds like a nice annoying person and all, but I can maybe find about, I don't know 20 better things to do." We talked for a little more than Obadiah left. I went back down to my lab to begin working again.

I worked for about 7 more hours than decided it was time to throw in the towel. I hadn't slept in about a week and I had a meeting tomorrow. I was not about to be chewed out by my PA Pepper again.

* * *

_**May 29th, 2003**_

_**Abigail's P.O.V**_

I raced down the sidewalk to the research facility. I was running late. I woke up around 6:30 only giving me 30 minutes to get ready. The train I took left at 7:00 but got stuck on the tracks midway, luckily I wasn't to far away. Then Ms. Wallace- sorry Andria, (after the first 2 days she requested I stop calling her that) asked if I could pick up some coffee and muffins for Doctor Harrison and her.

I met Doctor Jones my 3rd day there. He was a pleasant person to be around. Doctor Harrison was in his late 30's maybe, he was pretty laid back, he often made jokes or gave small remarks to lighten up the mood, and we both shared the same interest in mechanics.

Once I got inside I noticed the place was very chaotic that day. There were cleaning crews, scientist running about, and the phones were ringing off the hook. I found Andria in archives taking calls.

This was part of her routine. She took calls, assisted the doctors, occasionally made coffee and food runs, and worked on her own little project.

"Hey Andria,", I noticed she looked very stressed, "I brought muffins.", I held up the bag and gave her a smile. "I couldn't find Doctor Harrison though."

She hung up the phone and scribbled something down on a memo pad in front of her. "Thanks Abigail, I think Harrison is in the labs, but I'll make sure he gets his food. Do me a favor manage the phone.", she traded me the memo pad for the muffins and coffee then walked off.

I looked down at the pad then turned and yelled "Wait how do I do this?, I faded of at the end to find no one in sight. 'Great', I thought to myself. The next 2 hours consisted on taking messages, and occasionally going off on someone who had decided they would be snobby. I was not proud of going off, most of the time. Around 11:30 I was told to leave the phones, and take a much deserved break.

I sat down in front of Alison in the main lunch room. Like I said I was running late, so I just grabbed a salad.

"Hey", I said as I plopped down.

"Hi.", she replied. She started warming up to me the past couple of days. "Wait, are you eating a salad?, she said in a teasing tone.

"Don't worry it has bacon and cheddar .", I said. "So,", I started to poke the leaves around with my fork. "How's that hacking of yours?", I said making sure to whisper 'hacking'.

"Good I guess."

"Great."

"Can I ask you a question?", she said fast.

"You just did.", which got me a glare.

"Anyway, I was wondering if we could go shopping together."

"What?"

"You know just for fun."

"Yea, sure."

"Great I'll meet you Saturday at 10:00 a.m.", with that she got up and left.

* * *

_**Stark Tower  
**_

_**Tony's P.O.V**_

I had flown into New York City yesterday for another board meeting. It was this morning at 7:00, and I have concluded that I never wanted to go through that again. It was just awful. I couldn't even give the slightest remark without being scorned.

At the moment I was in the garage working on one of my cars. I heard something crash just to look up and see Dum-E. He was knocking over a box of spare parts while trying to retrieve my tool box that had I asked for.

"Really.", I said looking at him. "You couldn't have just went around.", I pointed to the clear path to my tool box. Dum-E backed away from the mess just to run into another box. "Now look what you did!", I pinched my nose and looked down.

_**" Sir, I should inform you-"**_

"Not now JARVIS.", I said watching the robot struggle more.

**_"But sir, I have detected a security__ breach."_**

I sat down at my computer, and started to look at the info JARVIS had pulled up. Apparently someone had tried to hack into him. The only problem is once I got through the firewall I couldn't find the direct source. The IP address was somehow linked to several different computers. I sat there for hours trying to trace it. Finally after about 5 hours I got a solid lead.

**_"Welcome Ms. Potts."_**

JARVIS said, his voice made me jump slightly because I was so absorbed in my work until that point. I played it off though, I wasn't about to admit that a computer scared me for a minute.

"Mr. Stark did you forget about the lunch meeting with Obadiah."

I didn't bother to look up I was so close to finding who hacked JARVIS. I didn't need any distractions.

"Of course not.", I replied as I ran the IP address again.

"Then why didn't you go? He was very upset.", she stated firmly. That's the thing about Pepper. She might just be my PA, but she was never afraid to put me in my spot. Sometimes a woman who knows how to take care of herself is attractive.

"Decided not to, I have better things to do. For example someone attempted to hack JARVIS."

_**"Correction sir, they did hack into** **me.", Jarvis said in a 'matter of fact' tone.**_

"Okay so they did, but it wasn't a very good hack."

**_"They went 9 days undetected sir."_**

"You know what, I've got this covered. How about you order me a pizza or something?", I said frustrated.

**_"Pepperoni or Sausage?"_**

Why did I think it was a good idea to give him a personality? I had finally tracked down the computer it was from. I put the address on g.p.s.

This couldn't be right, the computer was located at my Long Island research facility. "JARVIS re-track the computer", it still gave me the same address. I quickly started looking for my phone. I decided to call Obadiah and tell him I wanted to check up on things at the facility. If someone had hacked me unnoticed for 9 days I wanted to know how.

"Mr. Stark we are not finished discussing this.", Pepper yelled at me as I walked past her.

"You know what you are right. So I'm going to personally call him a apologize.", I held up my phone to show her, then exited the lab not waiting for her response. I did however catch the scowl she threw my way, if looks could kill I'd be 10 ft under.

_**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best with the hacking terminology, so don't kill me if I made errors with it. Anyway tell me what you think by reviewing! Lillyxxx**_


	5. Memories

_**Recap**  
_

**_This couldn't be right, the computer was located at my Long Island research facility. "JARVIS re-track the computer", it still gave me the same address. I quickly started looking for my phone. I decided to call Obadiah and tell him I wanted to check up on things at the facility. If someone had hacked me unnoticed for 9 days I wanted to know how._**

**_"Mr. Stark we are not finished discussing this.", Pepper yelled at me as I walked past her._**

**_"You know what you are right. So I'm going to personally call him and apologize.", I held up my phone to show her, then exited the lab not waiting for her response. I did however catch the scowl she threw my way, if looks could kill I'd be 10 ft under._**

* * *

_**May 31, 2003**_

_**Saturday**_

**Abigail's P.O.V**

I met Ali at the huge Macy's in New York. We had been there for almost about an hour, and apparently she was sold on forcing me to at least try on a dress. I though had strategically moved us away from the dress section to the shoes. She surprisingly caught what I was doing, and we ended back where we started.

"Ooh this one is so you! You should try it on.", she shoved a deep purple colored dress it in my hands, then ushered me to the dressing rooms.

"You know what, my feet really hurt, and I'm hungry. Maybe we could do this another day.", I said digging my heels into the floor. My personal preference is that I never wear dress unless necessary.

It's not that I'm shy or anything. It's just that I always had to keep up a profile when my parents were around. Only the finest dresses, jewelery,and shoes. Especially when there was a gala or dinner party, because god forbid you show up in something as "cheap" as Prada. I wasn't to big on the glitz and glam back then either.

When I moved to New York it was like a new start. Sure I still had some media attention, but here Tony Stark was top priority. Not some loner who had lost her parents, and had no control over the family company. So with my new start, I re-invented myself. The real me wasn't someone who took orders from everyone. If the world wanted to see a spoiled brat who never lifted a finger in her life, and only wore and talked to the finest, they would have to look else where 'cause that was definitely not me.

"If there is one thing I have learned about you, it is that you are always hungry. Just try it on, then we can leave.", Alison was definitely not going to take no for an answer.

I sighed in defeat and entered the changing rooms, on my own feet this time. Looking in my reflection I realized it wasn't that bad. The fabric was a nice color material, and the design fit pretty good. I mean I wouldn't describe it as perfect, but it looked nice.

"So...how does it look?", I could heard Ali say from the other side of the door. I had to admit I had no idea what had gotten into her. I mean we were pleasant with each other, but she was acting like we've been besties since birth. I decided to push the uneasy thoughts to the back of my mind.

I took a deep breath, then stepped out. She stood there just examining me for a moment. "So?", I asked awkwardly, "How does it look?"

"It looks nice on you.", she said with a sincere smile.

"Can we go now?"

"No, not yet."

I gave her a 'kill me now' look, but with a slight smile.

"Alright, alright we can go. If we must.", she rolled her eyes

"Trust me we must, I feel like I'm gonna die of starvation.", I walked back into the changing room and put my original clothes back on. I debated on whether or not to buy the dress. In the end I was walking out of Macy's with a brand new dress, and some combat boots that I couldn't resist.

* * *

**_Tony's P.O.V_**

After about 2 hours of convincing Obadiah I wasn't sleep deprived, and in the right state of mind, he reluctantly agreed to let me do a surprise visit to the Long Island lab. I wasn't about to tell him the reason for my sudden interest in the lab though. He would probably disapprove, and try to convince me to let the authorities handle the mishap. I however wanted to meet the person, get in their head a bit, _than_ report them for committing a crime. No one messes with Tony Stark, no one, except for Pepper. NO ONE messes with Pepper.

I'm planning to do it on Monday. Everyone hates Mondays right? People would be irritated, and not wanting to take any crap. That would just make it ten times easier. Of course Obadiah didn't just roll over. I apparently have to actually meet this intern he's been talking non-stop about.

It doesn't sound to hard though. A quick hello, autograph, and at most five minutes of them glorifying me. I will not spend more than 10 minutes because I have more important things to do then speaking to someone about subjects way to complicated for the average genius to understand.

* * *

**Abigail's P.O.V**

"That's a pretty necklace you have Abigail. Where's it from?", Alison said looking at me. I looked up from my menu to see what she was talking about. We were inside this small café in the heart of New York City. It was a very calm and neutral environment surprisingly. While out side swarms of people tried to walk on the two-sided sidewalk, and traffic was horrific.

Ali was talking about the silver chain that laced around my neck. Hanging from the chain was an emerald stone with a silver dragon. The silver dragon perched on the top of the jewel with its wings slightly standing up, and the dragon's tail wrapped around the precious stone protectively.

"Oh thank you.", I reached up and ran my fingers over the pendant, "My Grandmother gave it to me."

I wore the necklace everyday since she passed. She gave it to my when I was 12, and made me promise always to keep it close. I still remember it like it was yesterday.

_Flashback_

_My old childhood friend Sara Myers, and I were playing dolls at her parent's estate in Michigan. The Myers had watched me while my parents were away on business._

_"See Abby, daddy even got my the new house one.", she was showing off her new Polly Pocket set to me.  
_

_"Cool can I see it?", she handed me the small container, and I looked at it more closely. After a few seconds I handed it back to her and we began to play._

_After about an hour Sara's mother called for me. She told to get everything that I had brought, and pack it up._

_"I'm done.", I yelled from Sara's room where I had stayed. I was scared. Had I done something wrong? Why was I packing? When no one answered I decided to look for her. _

_I found the Myers in the foyer talking to my parents. Something was definitely wrong. My parents had only been gone for 2 days, usually their trips lasted longer than that. With no info on what was happening, my father grabbed my bags, we said goodbye to the Myers, and boarded my parents private plane. I stood silent for most of the ride, while my parents lowly talked among themselves, and occasionally glanced at me with a worried expression._

_I pretend not to notice, and kept my eyes glued to the small window by my seat. Every so often I could hear what my parents were saying which consisted of, "It'll be alright sweetheart.", and, " I hope we will get there in time."_

_After about an hour of keeping to my self. My father got up and walked over to me. He picked me up, sat down in my chair, and placed me on his lap. he grunted, and acted as if I was to heavy for him, which made me laugh._

_"I though we agreed you wouldn't grow while I was gone.", he said playfully. My mother smiled as she sat down across from us._

_"I tried not to, I promise.", I replied with a smile. This was one of the thing I loved about my parents. Even though they were busy people, they always made sure to have time for me. _

_"I bet you're wondering where we are going."_

_"Where are we going?", I asked confused. Their expressions turned from joyful to serious. My mother reached over and put her hand over my father's._

_"Well,", He said looking at me, "Grandma is very sick Abigail."_

_"I know.", we had just visited her last week. She had been in the hospital for almost a month now._

_"This is different. She very sick now, and the doctors are saying this may be it.", I cried all the way to the hospital she was staying at. It was in Chicago where we lived. I tried to clean my puffy face before we landed, but my efforts were unsuccessful. When we made it to the hospital I ran to her side. _

_She was on an oxygen tank and her heartbeat was slow. When she looked at me she smiled, and opened her arms for a hug. We sat there for hours, me on her bed, and my parents in chairs next to it. We talked, and talked. After a while she asked if she could talk to me alone. My parents left the room and she sat up the best she could._

_"Abigail, I want to give you something.", she reached up to her neck, and tried her best to unhook the chain that was around it. After a few seconds she got it. Then she shakily put it in my hand. I looked at it, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.I looked up at her with a smile, and hugged her.  
_

_"Take care of it for me okay."  
_

_"Okay Grandma.", I said as I put it on._

_"When ever you wear it it'll remind you of me. Promise you'll never lose it"_

_"I promise." I said as I hugged her again. We spent the day with her, and didn't leave until late that night. We came back the next day, and stood with her until she passed later that evening._

After lunch I went home and relaxed the rest of the day. The next day I did the same, my feet still ached from the day before. Gee could that girl shop. It was the usual routine on my lazy days trash t.v., junk food, and Chinese take out. I went to bed around 8:00 because I had the internship the next morning.

* * *

**A/N: Since school is starting again updates will be slower. I will try my best though to update when possible. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. What did you think of this chapter? Let me know by reviewing. Lillyxxx  
**


	6. Busted

_**Recap**_

_****__"Take care of it for me okay."_

**_"Okay Grandma.", I said as I put it on._**

**_"When ever you wear it it'll remind you of me. Promise you'll never lose it"_**

**_"I promise." I said as I hugged her again. We spent the day with her, and didn't leave until late that night. We came back the next day, and stood with her until she passed later that evening._**

**After lunch I went home and relaxed the rest of the day. The next day I did the same, my feet still ached from the day before. Gee could that girl shop. It was the usual routine on my lazy days trash t.v., junk food, and Chinese take out. I went to bed around 8:00 because I had the internship the next morning.**

* * *

"Shoot, shoot, shoot.", I said as I tried to put on a pair of skinnies. I had overslept. I had went to bed early, but the idiots below me decided to have a party till 3 in the morning. Who even parties on a work night? I wanted to go down there, and give them a piece of my mind. However I decided not to 'cause it would result in me doing something I wouldn't regret, but they would.

It was almost 7:30. I wouldn't be able to make it to the subway. I couldn't take the bus, it didn't come till the next hour. So the only solution was to take the platform train. I grabbed a random shirt, my converse, and headed out the door. I ran as much as I could on a crowed sidewalk to the station. Making it there in 7 minutes it was 7:45. The train came at 8:00 so I would still be late, but it was better than being an hour late. There was this funny feeling that I had gotten as I stood there, and waited. It was like I forgot something.

Lets see, I mentally went through a checklist. Hair? I reached up and touched my messy pony tail. Check. Clothes? *snort* Check. Lab work? Check. Bag? Check. No, I thought I had everything. Except for breakfast, but that would have to wait.

The train came late. Then I was squeezed beside a mother who had 3 children who insisted on running around in the 5 inches of space left on the train. Pushing and shoving, I ran the last 2 miles to work after getting off the train. After busting through the doors I went to the main lobby to sign in.

"Name?" the receptionist asked as she typed away on her computer, not bothering to look up.

"Abi...Abigail *Wheezing* Hienfield.", I felt as if the wind was knocked out of me. I bent over and clutched my stomach trying to breath again. After telling me I was late, she told me Doctor Harrison had requested me. I walked through the hallways still out of breath, and couldn't help but notice all the looks thrown my way. It was like I got the bubonic plague overnight. However, some of these looks weren't new. I had made a couple of enemies during the first week, but I did consciously run my hand over my messy hair.

The next few moments were unexpected. I found Doctor Harrison in lab III, that was not out of the ordinary. What was is that he was sitting down talking to Tony Stark. The Tony Stark. Now a million different reasons to explain why he was here popped in my mind. Only one stood out. Hacking. I had helped Ali hack into his computer my first day here, but how? I had made remotely impossible for the signal to be traced, but this was Tony Stark. As many time I had thought 'the Tony Stark' you'd think I was a die-hard fan or something. I should probably make something clear...I'm not, but hey I'm in shock.

I wasn't about to act guilty or afraid, so I composed myself then made my appearance noticed. I cleared my throat. Then walked up to Doctor Harrison.

"You wanted to see me?", in my mind I was telling myself to act normal.

"Yes, Abigail this is .", he motioned to Tony. From the expression on his face, I could tell Doctor Harrison was glad I showed up when I did. From a first hand experience I know how frustrating Tony Stark can be.

"Hi, is nice to meet you.", extended my hand to him. Of course he didn't take it.

"I know,", he said. Tony stood up buttoning his suit. "So, let's get this show on the road. I have important things to do."

"Right.", Harrison stood up too, "Abigail, you will be showing around."

"What!?", we both said at the same time. I got shot a glare for being rude.

"I thought I was getting showed around by the Blondie, with the- heels.", Stark motioned down at his feet when he said heels. It was sad that he only remembered the woman by 'Blondie with the heels'. I mentally sighed. How could Doctor Harrison think this was a good idea. I barely knew the man, and he still bothered every single being of me. If the Doctor wanted someone polite and sincere, he would have to look else where. I would probably end up strangling Stark as soon as we walked out the room.

"_Emma _is busy, but I'm sure my_** assistant**_ will do just as well.", curse him for trying to charm me with the title assistant, but it did have a nice ring to it. I huffed knowing I'm defeated, and there was no way of getting out of this situation.

"Right this way Mr. Stark.", I said with an over enthusiastic tone motioning to the door. This got me another glare, but so what. If Doctor Harrison was going to put me through this, he could at least let me keep my sarcastic witty, and behavior. I was going to either way.

"We could start with lab II if you like, it's closer.", I led him down the hallway.

"You're not actually his assistant.", he simply stated as if he was sure of it. I couldn't help but laugh at his confidence. "What's so funny?", now he was walking right beside me.

"You seem so sure of it."

"Well for starters, what are you 15?", he said in his now usual witty tone.

"I'm 17 for your information."

He winced. "You would've fooled me. No scratch that you couldn't have fooled me 'cause, well I'm me of course."

I rolled my eyes, and chose to ignore Tony. We walked in silence until we made it to lab II. I have to admit it was entertaining watching everyone going gaga over Tony Stark, who going gaga over the robotics section.

"So what is this? Oh, new end-effector.", he said as he looked at one of are newest model of a robot. Everyone nodded their heads, and murmured in agreement. He was wrong, and they all would have known it if they weren't in shock. Stark's effect on me had worn off as soon as it started. It didn't seem he was here for any hacking business. So, with that being said I just couldn't help myself.

"Actually Mr. Stark it's the same end-effector, but a new repeatability.", I said in a matter of fact tone. Everyone was now silent, and this seemed to stump Stark.

"Excuse me, but I don't think you're qualified to even be standing within 80 feet of this building. So if you don't mind, maybe it would be best if you stood quiet while the genius is talking.", he still had that confidence in his tone. It was like he expected me to surrender, and name him genius of the world while kissing his feet. I had other plans though. I locked eyes with him silently challenging him.

"Well when he shows up you can tell me, and I'll promise to keep my mouth shut.", I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm pretty sure an end-effector, and a repeatability are the same thing "

"The end-effector is the last joint of a machine. Used to accomplish a task. As the repeatability is the direction, and position of the end-effector. Also that is not the only update this particular model has had. For example it has new functional programming, and enumeration. It also has new software that can detect Keyloggers, SQL injections, or any form of hacking within 5 hours of its breach.", I gave him a smile than said, "Next lab?"

"This is the archives,", I had showed him all the labs already,"It keeps all past data from the lab along with other data from around the world."

"I bet all the nerds in this place just love coming here during break.", Stark said as he walked explored the room.

"This is a lab full a scientist, interns, and lab assistants. The whole facility is made up of nerds.", I said dripping with attitude.

"So, how did you do it?", he turns to me as he shove his hand into his pocket.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing.", he said looking down at the floor. "So how do you know so much about SQL injections, and stuff?"

"I never said I knew anything about 'SQL injections, and stuff'", I said playing innocent.

"Well you knew a lot back in the labs."

"Only the basics."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"No one likes a smart ass."

"Well that explains your huge posse of friends."

"My top computer got hacked into last week. How?", He looked up at me and walked closer.

"Must have been really smart."

"So you're saying you're really smart?"

"No, I said whoever did it was smart."

"_So_ you're calling yourself smart."

"Do you need a hearing aid."

"No."

"Really? 'Cause you know old age can do that to you, right?"

"You're changing the subject."

"How would I be changing the subject? I was just stating the facts."

"If that was a fact you'd be just an innocent "assistant" showing me around, but you're not"

"If I'm not then what am I?", I raised my eyebrow challenging him again.

"I don't know yet, but you're not normal. A normal person wouldn't have been able to hack my systems."

"What?"

"What?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"What do I mean?", he refused to look away from my eyes like they would confess everything.

"What _do _you mean?"

"Wait, what?"

"What? I was just stating the obvious."

"What _is_ the obvious?"

"I don't know."

"Than how could you be stating something you know nothing about?"

"I never said I knew nothing about it. I just don't know what you mean."

"But if you don't know what I mean how could you be stating the obvious of what I mean."

"You tell me."

"How am I supposed to tell you when my obvious is different from your obvious?"

"How do you know they're different?"

"You just said my obvious was different from your obvious."

"No, I said I didn't know what you meant. They could be exact."

"Then tell me the obvious."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Cause if my obvious is different from your obvious I'll never know because you would've adopted my obvious.

"How will we know they're different then?"

"We won't."

All this happened in less than two minutes. He talked fast trying to sike me out. It didn't work cause I quickly caught on, and turned the tables. We stood staring at each other in silence. Then I turned on my heels, and walked out the door.

"Come on, I show you the lunchrooms. I starving anyway.", I yelled over my shoulder continuing on not caring if he followed or not. I looked down at my phone. Only 2 more hours...thank God.


	7. Deja vu

_**"Cause if my obvious is different from your obvious I'll never know because you would've adopted my obvious.**_

_**"How will we know they're different then?"**_

_**"We won't."**_

_**All this happened in less than two minutes. He talked fast trying to sike me out. It didn't work cause I quickly caught on, and turned the tables. We stood staring at each other in silence. Then I turned on my heels, and walked out the door.**_

_**"Come on, I show you the lunchrooms. I starving anyway.", I yelled over my shoulder continuing on not caring if he followed or not. I looked down at my phone. Only 2 more hours...thank God**_

* * *

_**Abigail's P.O.V**  
_

"This is the lunchroom", I held my arms up like I was presenting the most interesting thing in the world as we walked in. It took him less than 5 seconds to make a beeline to the coffee machine. I however sat down next to Ali who was talking to some guy I've never saw before. Who ever he was she didn't like him because she looked tense, like really tense.

"Hi, I'm Abigail"

"Eric.", He held out his hand and gave me a lopsided grin. I take returning his smile.

"So, are you new? I've never seen you around.", I look at Alison who is still in her stiff position.

"I'm insulted Ali didn't tell you about me."

"Oh you know each other."

"Yea, we grew up together.", he said shooting Ali a look I couldn't read. She happily returned it though.

"I didn't know you would show up.", she said through her teeth. They soon got into a heated argument which I ignored. I turned to Stark as he sat down. He took a sip of the coffee he made, and spit it back in the cup.

"Oh, don't drink the coffee it's stale."

"Really?", he said as he pushed the cup away. I snorted then got up to get my lunch. Lunch today was from a vending machine that was in the corner of the lunchroom. I put my money in and pressed the Button for chips. It didn't work instead it made a beeping sound. I pressed the button again and again getting frustrated. After about 5 minutes I was so done just pushing buttons. So I started banging on the machine.

"Need help", Eric said behind me with a chuckle.

"Yeah, something is wrong with it.", I said backing up from the vending machine so he could see. Eric walked up, and removed this thin disk that was on the side of the machine. He stuck it in his pocket the turned to me.

"I think it'll work now.", he said with now an evil smile.

"How did you know that was there?", I was starting to feel very uneasy.

"Just a hunch,", he said with a shrug as he got closer and whispered, "Just like the hunch that I have about you."

"Sorry?"

"Ah come on Abigail. We both know you aren't normal."

"I don't know what you're talking about.", I backed up into a wall behind me, and I could feel this tingling sensation coming over me.

"You got away last time, but not this time. I'm not going to make the same mistake they did", before I could say anything else he quickly grabbed my throat, and pushed me up the wall. I tried to scream out, but it was no use. The room was to caught up in Stark, and the vending machine was practically out of sight in the corner.

I tried kicking him which didn't work, he was good at withstanding pain. In response to my little stunt he tightened his hand around my throat.

"What do you want?", I was able to choke out between staggered breath.

"To finish the mission the other operatives couldn't."

I felt that tingling getting stronger as he kept tightening his hand. I clawed at his grip, but it didn't make a difference. There was no use. Pain. Tingling. Pain. Tingling. That was all I felt now. I couldn't breath anymore. I had a short breath before it was over. I started to feel light-headed, and I could barely fight back anymore. Not that it was helping. I gave up, there was no use. I let the wave of dizziness come over me before closing my eyes. Everything went black.

* * *

*Wheezing*

I was kneeling on the floor clutching my throat as I tried to breath again. What just happened? Everything was black, and then it was like I woke up here with no one in sight. The vending machine beeped, and then I heard someone chuckle behind me.

"Need Help?", I looked up to see Eric smiling at me. I stood up using the vending machine to steady me.

"N-no it's fine.", this literally just happened.

"Are you sure? You were banging on the machine, then suddenly you just collapsed.", He looked at me with a concerned face.

"Yea, I'm fine.", I regained me balance, and tried to walk past him.

"I can help you with the machine if you want.", he blocked my way almost instinctively.

"I'm fine." I moved past him, and sat down next to Stark. He looked up at me, and had a strange look on his face.

"What's with the marks?"

"What?"

"Your neck it's red."

"Is it?", I stood back up, "Excuse me."

I ran to the bathroom to examine myself in the mirror. Huge red hand marks on my neck. There was no way to miss them. They were raw to the touch, and fresh. That meant what ever I thought just happened actually happened. I started to get that tingling feeling all over again, and my breathing hitched. I gripped the ends of the sink in front of me, and closed my eyes.

I ran through the bathroom door, and stopped. Wait? I stood in front of the mirror, and examined the marks on my neck. Yup, they were still there, and I'm pretty sure that this just happened. My medicine. I forgot to take my medicine. I took a deep breath, and turn cold water on to rinse my face. It didn't help. I need to go home.

I turned the water off, and quickly grabbed a paper towel. Then opened the door to walk out. I was however met face to face with Tony. I jumped back in surprise. This caused him to look at me intensely.

"'Are you alright?"

"Yea I- Yea, I just need to go home."

"Now?"

"Now.", pushed past him, and walked quickly down the hall.

"I'm going to figure it out."

"Figure what out?", I said turning to him.

"I'm going to figure out how you did it. Then I'm going to figure you out."

"I don't know what you're talking about.", I turned back around and walked out

* * *

_**A/N:****I hope you like this chapter. I really enjoyed writing this chapter because I now pretty much have an idea where I want to take this story. Anyway what do you think so far? Tell me by reviewing.**_


	8. The Beginning

**"I'm going to figure it out."**

**"Figure what out?", I said turning to him.**

**"I'm going to figure out how you did it. Then I'm going to figure you out."**

**"I don't know what you're talking about.", I turned back around and walked out**

* * *

Abigail's P.O.V

I threw my bag on the floor as soon as I got inside, ans started tearing up the apartment looking for my medicine. It had to be here somewhere. Just not in the kitchen, bathroom, or living room. The only place left to look was my bedroom. I ran inside and started by looking through my dresser.

"Looking for something?", I heard a man say behind me. I screamed and jumped back. He laughed and got up from my bed, where he was sitting. I couldn't see his face until he stepped forward a bit. It was Agent Coulson.

"Relax I'm not here to hurt you.", He tossed a pill bottle up in the air. "I think you might want these."

"What are you doing here?", I said harshly as I caught the bottle mid-air. He walked around my room, as he talked.

"There have been a lot of high energy levels around New York since this morning."

"So?", I set the bottle on my dresser.

"Well any idea why?"

"Why would I know?", I knew exactly what he was getting at.

"You know the last time we saw such high levels was January 8th, 1999. Sound familiar to you?"

"The day my parents died.", I whispered so low he couldn't hear my. It was the only other day I forgot about taking my medicine. No, I refused to take it. I didn't care about what it would do to me, but I quickly regretted it.

"Sorry what was that?", he looked up at me.

"What does this have anything to do with me?", I said through my teeth. The sudden feeling of anger came over me. He smiled at me then reached for the bottle.

"Well,", He opened it up shaking 2 pills out then handing them to me,"Here you go."

"Well what?", I demanded

He reached up to his ear, and pulled out a little device. After crushing it he dusted it off his hands. He walked closer as if there were other people in the room, and didn't want them to hear our conversation. He looked at me then sighed looking down. Coulson seemed to have this ongoing debate in his mind. I guess whatever side won wasn't the one he was hoping would win. I don't know why, but Agent Coulson gave off this trust worthy vibe. I didn't like it, because that meant as much as I wanted to hate the man, I couldn't. It meant that he already knew how to get past my walls, and wasn't buying the tough act I was putting up. He knew what had happened this morning.

"I'm going to be honest with you. Which is something I rarely do. Not to mention now I'm breaking every protocol ever created. You're different Abigail."

"You know a lot of people have told me that lately. So maybe if you could be more specific that would be great."

"Those high power readings were coming for you. They started around 7:00, and are still going on right now. Why are they still going on?...'cause you have yet to take your medicine."

"I already took my medicine.", I said about to put the pills back into the bottle. He stopped my right before I could drop them in.

"There's no need to lie. No one else can hear us, it's just you and me."

"I'm not lying."

"Really?", he walked over to my desk and picked up a travel sized mirror, then handed it to me. I gave him questioning look, but he motioned for me to look into it. Nothing there I hadn't seen before. The hand marks were now fading, but still a vibrant red. My hair in even messier pony tail from all the running, and lastly my eyes were the same deep green color. Wait, my eyes aren't supposed green. They are a hazel color.

"They changed when I brought up your parents. Now I pretty sure that doesn't happen when you take your medicine. If it does, that means you need a higher dosage."

I sighed and gave up to defeat. Then I walked to the kitchen, grabbed water from the fridge, and took my medicine. Coulson followed me, and sat down at the excuse for a dining table I had. I sat down next to him, and we sat in silence for a minute as I waited for the medicine to kick in.

"Who are they?", I asked after the silence. I was talking about the group that kept attacking me. To be honest I was kinda scared. Especially after Eric showed up. He probably doesn't even remember what happened, but I do. Since I do does give me an advantage. I can prepare for when, or if he tries to attack again. That doesn't mean there aren't others though. What if I happen to run into that friendly group of people who pinned me against their car again? Then what? I couldn't expect SHIELD to care too much about it, could I?

"I don't know. I do know however that they want you. Like I said you're special, and if I'm correct they have tracked you for the past 4 years.", Coulson stood up and turned to me. "Someone attacked you. Who was it?"

"I don't know. He claimed his name was Eric.", by the way he grimace I could tell he expected more details. Sadly that's pretty much all I got, other than the fact he knew Ali. I wasn't going to tell him that, I was certain she had nothing to do with it.

"Be careful around him, and try to keep a low profile. We'll be in touch.", he turned and left.

After he left I took my usual spot on the couch, and fell asleep. It felt nice to take a moment and rest after the hectic day I had. A few hours later I woke up because of my cellphone ringing. I got off the couch, and stumbled into my room to answer it.

"Hello?", I said grogginess still affecting me.

"Abigail! It's nice to talk to you again!", I heard Obadiah on the other side of the line.

"Oh Hi . How are you?", I said putting on the best professional voice I could manage.

"Good, good. I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I have some incredible news to share with you.",man did he sound way more chipper than the first time I talked to him.

"Oh, of course not. What is it?"

"I have arranged for you to meet someone I know you'll just want to meet."

"Who is it?"

"Tony Stark!", now it all made sense. He thought that if he made it sound like the best thing in the world I wouldn't have a problem with it.

"That's great, when?", I kept a tight smile as if he could see me through the phone.

"Tomorrow. Meet me at Stark Tower around 9:00, and don't worry about work tomorrow."

"Okay sounds great.", I contemplated on whether or not to just go with it, or tell him that I've already in fact met Tony, twice. I chose to just go with it. It was amusing to watch someone as stuck up, and unbearable like Tony Stark being challenged. _Especially_ if it was Tony Stark, and I was the one challenging him. After a few more moments of senseless small talk we said goodbye to each other.

* * *

Tony's P.O.V

Doctor Harrison had his** real** assistant finish the tour with Tony. It wasn't hard to tell he was very disappointed on Abigail for skipping out. To be honest so was Tony. That girl was clever, really clever. It fascinated him. What fascinated Tony even more was how she out smarted him back in the archives. Don't get the wrong idea now. It bothered every bone in his body that a teenage girl was able to do the impossible. He wanted to know how, and he was going to find out. The assistant nervously showed the rest of the facility which was just the other lunch room, bathrooms, and the main lobby where she gladly dropped him off.

As soon as Tony entered the doors to Stark Tower he was greeted with an angry Pepper, as usual. Maybe if he wasn't too busy thinking of a way to figure out Abigail he would've listened to her, *snort* maybe. He went through the same apology method he usually did. Which calmed her down a bit. Pepper was still mad, but just not as livid.

"Don't forget you're spending the day with the new intern.", Pepper said as Tony went to the fridge and grabbed a drink out.

"Yea yeah I know."

"So you're not going to ditch then?"

"Listen I've got it all covered.", he twisted off the cap and threw it in the trash, "I'm going to stop and say hi, maybe chat for a minute, sign something, and viola it's done"

"I don't think you understand .", Pepper tried her best to hide the smirk that had risen to her lips,"You're spending the _whole _day with her, and she's coming _here_."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen.", Tony said catching Pepper's smile.

"Yes it is. Obadiah personally called me to make sure you followed this through. Besides it's probably not that hard. Show her your lab-or something."

"Show her my-! Pepper I'm not gonna just show some random kid my lab! Do you know how idiotic that sounds.", that was the most ridiculous idea he has ever heard. Pepper could forget about him surrendering under that heavy glare she was throwing his way 'cause he wasn't going to.

"Then what are you going to do then?",Pepper said crossing her arms.

"We'll talk about our favorite kinds of drinks. I don't know I'll figure it out."

"So you will do it then?", she looked at him expectantly. 'Crap', he thought to himself. Tony should've saw the trap when she set it, but he didn't. Which meant there was no way out. She wasn't going to take 'no'.

"Yeah I'll do it.", he pouted like a child.

"And, what are you going to do?"

"I said I'll figure it out, okay?", he grabbed his drink and walked to the elevator. "Jarvis, my lab.", he turned around once he stepped in the elevator to see Pepper still looking at him. He scoffed.

"Show her my lab.", Tony took a sip of his drink as the doors closed.

* * *

_**A/N: I also really enjoyed writing this chapter too. I feel like these last few chapters are when most of the set up for the story is done. Now it's time for the actual adventure with Abigail and Tony to begin. Also I've changed the way I'm writing Tony's P.O.V., this way it's easier.**_

_**I'd like to give a shout out to all those awesome people who have commented on my story so far. Thank you:) **_

_**What do you think? Tell me by reviewing. Lillyxxx  
**_


	9. Tony Meet Abigail

**"So you will do it then?", she looked at him expectantly. 'Crap', he thought to himself. Tony should've saw the trap when she set it, but he didn't. Which meant there was no way out. She wasn't going to take 'no'.**

**"Yeah I'll do it.", he pouted like a child.**

**"And, what are you going to do?"**

**"I said I'll figure it out, okay?", he grabbed his drink and walked to the elevator. "Jarvis, my lab.", he turned around once he stepped in the elevator to see Pepper still looking at him. He scoffed.**

**"Show her my lab.", Tony took a sip of his drink as the doors closed.**

* * *

**Tony's P.O.V.  
**

Tony's expectations for the infamous intern were low and high at the same time. She could be a dork whose dirty pleasures were watching Doctor Who, and staying up all night just talking about simple physics. ( No hate on Doctor Who. I absolutely love that show!) However, she must be super smart to not only get an internship at his company, but to woo Stane. This intern who Stane had talked and talked about had to have some sort of outstanding and wicked thing about them, right?

Wrong. This intern was annoying, irritating, unbearable, impulsive, too witty, a real smart ass, know it all, and to top it all off sadly a genius. This intern was Abigail the 15-year-old girl who had shown him up the day before, and to think as he recited every trait he had discovered about Abigail to Pepper all she could say was, "Seems like a match made in heaven to me.", and lets not forget the 'as a matter of fact' attitude she said it with.

What made him more irritable is that she just stepped out of the car Stane and her had taken, and walked up to him all innocently.

"Umm hi, I'm Abigail." She gave him a knowing smile as she held out her hand. This made sense of course. This is how she had hacked into his systems. Tony looked down at her hand and grimaced.

"Right." He pushed past her to Obadiah. He was not going to spend the day with her, and he was sure of it. "Listen Stane, I'm not going to spend the day with-with that!" He pointed behind him at her and said it loud enough for Britain to hear.

"Mr. Stark!" He turned to see Pepper scowling at him while she put her hands on Abigail's shoulders. Looking at Abigail well, she had a pout on her face, along with fake tears welling up in her eyes. Obadiah grabbed Tony's arm with a chuckle and told Pepper and Abigail they would be right back. As soon as they were out of sight Obadiah turned to Tony.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Umm trying to save my company from a potential attack by an insane teenager." Tony said as if it was obvious.

"Listen, I don't know if you're just sleep deprived or something, but that girl is going to spend the day with you and that's final."

"Well sorry to upset you, but that's not going to happen." Stark shot back. This was unacceptable, impossible. He was not about to let her waltz into his place, and see everything she could get her grubby little hands on. Absolutely not. Next thing you know Dum-e would be on some rampage all over the place breaking anything he touched, more than usual, because he got hacked into. So what did Tony do?

"Here are the rules. You don't touch, look, or think about anything in here. In fact don't even breath in the air. You will only talk when spoken to, and we stay on this floor got it?" Nothing Tony did nothing. He didn't know if it was Obadiah's stern tone, Pepper's never-ending scowl, or Abigail's fake tears along with an occasional challenging look, but he couldn't say no. Abigail's tears quickly stopped, and were replaced with an excited smile, fake too. Obadiah had to take care of some business with his company, and Pepper had errands to run. Or at least she said she did. So it was just Abigail and him. "Any questions? Good." He didn't bother to wait for her answer.

She sat down at a small island that was in the kitchen. The newest addition to the floor they were on, and looked at him. He grabbed a drink from the fridge and leaned on the same island. A good 10 minutes passed by without any of them saying anything. Tony occasionally taking a sip of his beer and staring her down, and Abigail twiddling her thumbs. What took them out of the awkward silence was Jarvis.

"Sir, Rhodey is calling would you like to answer it?"

"Yea why not." Tony replied thinking nothing of it. Rhodey and Tony talked for about 10 minutes while Abigail occasionally snickered at something he said to Tony. Then Rhodey got to the real reason he called.

"So...how's the missile project going?"

"It's going." Tony replied nonchalantly

"Really? because The military has yet to receive anything."

"Yea, I'm finishing them up." He glanced at Abigail who seemed interested in their conversation. "One second Rhodes.", he put him on hold. "Jarvis take this call to my lab." Tony grabbed his drink and went to the elevators. "Oh, and I wouldn't touch anything I have cameras everywhere. I'll be right back." He told to Abigail as he stepped inside the elevator.

* * *

Abigails's P.O.V

Stark had been gone for almost 30 minutes. I got up and started to pace back and forth swinging my arms, looking around bored. Finally I decided I wasn't going to wait here for an hour while he did who knows what. So I tried something.

"Jarvis?" I said hopefully. There was silence.

"Yes?" I jumped not expecting him to reply.

"Where is Stark?"

"In his lab."

"When do you think he's coming back up?"

"I've estimated his average time is an hour."

"Am I stuck here while he is down there?"

"According to his instructions you are not to leave this room." The elevator door opened. I hesitated then walked toward it.

"If I'm supposed to stay here why did you open the elevator?"

"If you are implying that I've been ordered not to follow Mr. Stark's instructions while you are here, I have no idea what you are talking about."

I smiled and stepped inside. The doors closed and the elevator began to move. "Where am I going?" He didn't reply until I heard a ding.

"Welcome." I heard him say as I entered the room he stopped at. Scratch that it wasn't a room it was a lab. A huge one in fact. There were gadgets thrown all over the place, huge computer screens with blueprints and coding displayed, and somewhere deep within I could hear someone shuffling around.

I walked towards the sound, and as I got closer I could hear Stark on the phone. I stopped behind a stack of boxes. I could see Stark, but he couldn't see me. I listened closely to his conversation, but honestly it was really boring. Once he got off the phone Stark moved away from my line of sight. I moved closer trying to find him again which caused me to knock over one of the boxes. He froze what he was doing, and looked my way. I hid behind the remaining boxes again crouching down this time.

I heard him put whatever he had down, and walk my way. He crouched down to look at the box that had fallen. Then he walked around. I gave him a smile. He returned it with a his eyes narrowed.

"Hi." I stood up.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Jarvis led me down here." I said as I shrugged. I pushed past him to get a better look at the lab. Walking around I casually picked up some gadget thingy.

"Listen you are going to forget you ever came down here, and we are going to go back upstairs. Now.", he snatched the thingy from my hand and pushed me back to the elevator doors.

"But it's much more exciting down here." As we got to the elevator I dug my feet in the ground. "Come on? Please? can we stay down here?", I don't know why I thought begging would help, but I did know this place was amazing. I just wanted to spend my entire life down here, and I was going to spend as much as I could. If not all.

"Do you seriously think I'm just going to let you waltz right in, and demand to stay?"

"I didn't waltz right in. Like I said Jarvis led me down here, and I'm not demanding. I'm asking." I gave him a simple smile. He rolled his eyes, and frowned.

"Listen kid"

_"Welcome, Miss Potts." _Jarvis said cutting Tony off. I turned around to see Pepper exiting the elevator with a pleased smile. She walked in holding a bag from this local Chinese restaurant. I hoped it was holding actual Chinese food in it. She set the bag along a pile of papers she was carrying on one of the desks.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I though maybe you wouldn't mind putting down your toys and eating something." She said mostly at Tony.

"You're not interrupting anything. We were just going back upstairs." Tony said again pushing me towards the elevators. "In fact why don't you join us." Pepper looked at me than at him sternly. Gee I'd hate to get on her bad side.

"Mr. Stark could I talk to you in private."

"No I'm good." He said nervously

"I'm not." I said crossing my arms and leaning on some kind of metal bar. They both looked at me. Tony angry. Pepper confused. "I've been here for about an hour, and I have yet to learn anything from the one and only Tony Stark." I put on a pained face and looked down at the floor. This was a long shot, but I mean it could work right? " I mean he was about to show me around his lab, but then we got interrupted." Pepper put her hand up to her chest, and gave a sorry expression.

"Oh. I am so sorry. Let me just leave this here, and you two can carry on. I'll be right upstairs if you need anything.", she picked up her papers left the food and got back in the elevator, but not before sending a proud smile to Tony. Tony now he looked as if his mind was still processing what was happening. As soon as she left I turned to him.

"So, what are you going to show me first."

* * *

Tony's P.O.V

Oh she was good. As soon as pepper left she turned to Tony with a mischievous smile. "So, what are you going to show me first?"

Tony sat at his lab desk, and worked on my newest piece of tech. She sat across from him, and just studied what he was doing. It frustrated Tony. He couldn't get the damn thing to work. After of countless attempts he set it down and pinched his nose.

It was really quiet. So quiet he heard Abigail as she slowly got up from her chair. He looked up to see what she was doing. She mindlessly drummed her fingers on the desk as she walked to a huge pile of books that were sitting in the corner of the room, and stopped at the huge mess Dum-E made that was blocking her way. Crouching down she picked up some of the contents the were strewn on the floor. One of those things was this laser that Tony had been working on a couple of months ago. It wouldn't work though. The energy and power of the laser was to strong for it to be in a tiny structure like it was.

She put them back in the box that was also thrown there, except for the laser. It intrigued her. He could tell by the way she examined it closer than she did with the other stuff. She stopped at the pile of books, and started looking through them. Tony thought nothing of it, and turned back to his project. She sat down in front of him with a book on mechanical physics. He couldn't help but snort at the idea of her reading it and understanding it.

As Tony worked for the next hour he stole glances at Abigail as she made it through the book. After 20 minutes of reading it she was already halfway done with the book. She set it down and picked up the laser, and started fiddling with it. Then picked the book back up. She did this over and over. Tony again turned back at his work, and tried not to wonder what she was doing. It was very difficult though.

Tony had finally figured out what was wrong with the piece of tech. "Jarvis bring up the statistics for project blue." That was what he named it. His computer turned on, and showed all the info he had gathered so far. Tony turned his chair to the left so he could see the computer, which was beside him. Out of his peripheral vision he could see Abigail messing with the laser again. She had taken apart the cover and was now fiddling with the wires. Not thinking about it twice he paid attention to what was in front of him.

"Jarvis bring up the prototype design.", he scooted up closer. Then he heard a high-pitched sound and felt heat go past the back of his neck. Following was the sound of something breaking. Tony eyes wandered to where the sound came from to see a hole in his wall leading to another section of his lab. He turned to Abigail whose eyes were wide with panic. She was holding the laser which was pointed at the wall.

"Sorry?" She said with a guilty smile. Tony was very astonished by what had just happened. How did she do that? He spent nearly a year trying to fix that thing, and abandoned it a few months ago with no hope left. Yet she fixed it in less than a day.

"How did you do that?"

"I was just trying to get a better look at the wiring. It seemed like some of the lines were dead. Apparently they weren't.", she said putting down the laser. Tony got up to examine the wall. He looked through the hole the laser had made to see glass beakers on the floor shattered. He looked back to Abigail who had got up to stretch. "Is it that bad?" She asked.

Tony cleared his throat. He turned off his computer, and walked to the elevator. "Where are you going?" She followed him.

"I'm starving. How about you?" He looked at Abigail who was now walking beside him

"I guess."

* * *

Abigail's P.O.V.

I sat across Tony in a small pizza parlor uptown, and honestly I was confused. He wasn't mad about the laser thing. In fact he barely blinked and eye. Should I be worried? I looked down at the menu searching for the drink selection. Tony's eyes bore into my forehead I could feel him just staring at me. I guess the answer was yes. I should be worried. I quickly looked up just to see him looking down at his menu. He was good. I looked back down at my menu, and decided to ignore his strange behavior.

"So, I get to pick anything I want?" I said looking at him again.

"Yup, for the 1000th time." He didn't bother to look up. Okay so I asked a couple of times, but fairly this was shocking. It's not like he didn't have the money to pay for such a thing. I mean he obviously did, but he was being kind. Do words like kind even exist in his world? Is it possible that under that shell of rudeness is a kind, sweet, and caring man?

"Are you ready to order?" The waitress said as she walked up with a notepad in hand.

"Yup." Tony said putting down his menu. He ordered his food then asked me what I was going to get. I told the waitress my order. "Are you sure it's healthy for you to be eating so much food? He questioned me as the waitress walked off.

Apparently I was wrong he was just all kinds of rude. Yes, I may have ordered a lot, but this moment was once in a lifetime. Of course I was going to take advantage of it. I smiled at Stark before accidentally kicking him under the table. Tony cleared his throat and started to rearrange the sugar packets. They were just thrown in side the little container on the table in no particular order. I don't blame him It was beginning to bother me too.

The food came just a quick as we ordered it. We sat in silence as Tony would awkwardly glance at me from time to time. After lunch we went back to the tower, and spent the rest of the day in the lab. I guess it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Except he refused to let me touch the laser again, and it sucked too because I was so close to fixing it for good.

* * *

Tony's P.O.V.

Abigail left at 6:00, and Tony was left to his own thoughts as he tried fix the kinks in Project Blue. Pepper was upstairs doing some rescheduling from some appointments he had missed because of today. So, he guessed there was a bright said to the day.

"Welcome Miss Potts." Pepper walked to Tony's desk and leaned on it.

"So." She said as she crossed her arms

"So what?" He said not looking up. Pepper reached down and grabbed the tech out of his hand. She tossed it on the table despite Tony's warnings of being careful with it.

"How was your day."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"It was fine Pepper. We stayed down here went to lunch, talked, and then she left." Tony shrugged. Pepper couldn't help but smile at how casual he said it.

"I think you had a better day then you expected.", she stood upright. "Anyway, I'm turning in for the night is there anything else you need ?" She put back on her professional voice and looked at him.

"No."

"You have a meeting tomorrow morning. So don't stay up too late."

Tony worked for another hour then decided to take a break. Pepper was right sadly. He had-had a better day then he expected. Surprisingly it was _way_ better than he expected. Then this idea started to float around in his head, and as much as he wanted to forget it. He couldn't. Tony turned to his computer.

"Jarvis call Obadiah." Tony listened as the phone started to ring.

"Hello.", A groggy Obadiah picked up the phone.

"Stane! I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"I was sleeping Tony."

"Great. Listen about this intern of mine."

_**A/U: I want to thank everyone who has reviewed or followed this story. Thank you:) Also I changed my pen name. I just had this random name , and I was like 'you know what I'm gonna try it.' so yea. I was supposed to be marching, and playing with the band for my high school last Friday. Sadly I couldn't because I got my sister's flu. Which really sucked honestly. On the bright side I had a little extra time to write this chapter, and I made this it a bit longer. What did you think? Tell me by reviewing. Lillyxxx**_


	10. The Start of Something New

**Tony worked for another hour then decided to take a break. Pepper was right sadly. He had-had a better day then he expected. Surprisingly it was way better than he expected. Then this idea started to float around in his head, and as much as he wanted to forget it. He couldn't. Tony turned to his computer.**

**"Jarvis call Obadiah." Tony listened as the phone started to ring.**

**"Hello.", A groggy Obadiah picked up the phone.**

**"Stane! I hope I'm not interrupting anything."**

**"I was sleeping Tony."**

**"Great. Listen about this intern of mine."**

* * *

**Abigial's P.O.V**

I hadn't expected to get a call from Obadiah the next day, but I did. He had called to ask how the day went. I wasn't going to tell him the first hour or so I was at odds with Tony. Then before lunch I nearly hit him with a laser beam. So I told him nothing but the positives.

Bad idea. Maybe I should have seen this coming. The tone he was using was the same tone he used when told me I'd be spending the day with Tony. I should have noticed the overly cheering voice he had when I picked up the phone in the first place. He boasted with a wide smile when I picked up. You could practically see it through the phone.

"I'm so great to hear that because it just so happens Tony is free tomorrow."

"Yea. So?"

"Well...I was just thinking maybe you would like to spend another day with him."

"That sound nice in all but I'm busy tomorrow.", I said maybe a little too quickly.

"If you had such a great time yesterday, I see no reason no to do it again." Obadiah was persistent. It was obvious he wasn't going to let this one go, and I mean as much as I didn't like Stark yesterday wasn't so bad. What could be the harm?

"What time?"

* * *

I shifted uncomfortably as I rode in one of Stark Tower's elevators. Today I was wearing my favorite red flannel, a simple grey under shirt, skinnies, and converse. The elevator dinged when it made it to the bottom floor. Tony's lab. _"Welcome."_, Jarvis said as I stepped out. I heard clattering coming from the far left. I walked over to see Tony leaning over and working on a car.

"Pepper just leave the food on my desk." He looked up expecting to see well, Pepper. Grease was smeared all over his hands. Here and there on his face, but his hair was somehow untouched and well-groomed. Of course someone like him wouldn't dare to ruin his hair. "Oh. Your not Pepper." He looked back down to the car and started to tinker again. "Do me a favor kid. Turn on the car."

"Me?", I asked pointing at myself.

"Yea.", Tony looked back up at me. He motioned to the car with his head. "Quickly."

I opened the car door and turned the key in the ignition. It turned on with a purr. Tony closed the hood. "Dum-E hand me a rag." A robot came rolling through with a towel covered in grease in its hand. "Oh, you can turn it off." He threw the towel on a small work station.

I turned off the car and got out of the car. I began to examine the robot. "So what are you doing here?" Tony had his back to me while he shuffled through some papers that were also on the work station.

"I thought you invited me to spend the day with you again." I reached out to Dum-E, but he backed up. I tried it again he reacted the same.

"I don't remember-" Tony stopped mid sentence. I began to chase Dum-E around the room with my hand reached out just trying to at least poke it. "What is this a game of tag? Dum-E stand still. Yeesh."

I smiled started to examine the robot's infrastructure. "Like I was saying I don't-" Pepper walked into the room holding a bag of burgers.

"Afternoon Mr. Stark, Abigail." She nodded in my direction. Pepper set the burgers down on his desk. "Mr. Stark you have an interview at 7:00 don't forget. I'll be upstairs if you need anything else." She gave me a warm smile before leaving.

Tony grabbed the the bag. He took the food out tossing me one. "What's this?" I picked up the burger confused.

"A burger. You eat it.", Tony said with a mouth full of his own.

"Oh. Thanks" I sat down on a stool and ate it.

"So. I was thinking we could just stand down here for the time being." He balled up the wrapper and threw it on his desk.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You can look at Dum-E. I'll do my work. As long as you don't make a hole in my wall again of course." Tony got up and walked over to his computers. He began to work deciding to no longer attempt to acknowledge my question. I looked at Dum-E for a good 2 hours observing every nook and cranny, and after a while he stopped fidgeting. Then I found myself sitting on a small couch and playing what was supposed to be catch, but turned out to Go Fetch with Dum-E.

After another hour I started messing with the gadgets that lay were just randomly thrown everywhere. So far I had fixed 5 of them. Tony took a break after 4 hours of working. It was a short 5 minute one. As he did he looked at the stuff I fixed. I got bored so I grabbed a book from the pile, and started to read curled up on the couch. Throughout the whole day Tony and I barely spoke a word to each other. It was a comfortable silence.

I finished my book and walked over to where Stark was. We both glance at each other when I sat down across form him. "What are you doing?", I said as I drummed my fingers on the table.

"It's a design for a new weapon."

"You missed something." I pointed to an equation he had wrote out that was missing important variables. He looked over it carefully.

"I guess I did." He glanced at me then handed me the paper. "Do me a favor look over it."

I did so for about an hour before Pepper came down. "Mr. Stark, you are going to be late if you don't get ready now." Tony sighed and put down his stuff.

"5 more minutes Pepper. Then I'll get ready."

"Forget it. I remember last time you said that. I didn't see you for a whole day. I'll give you a second to wrap up." She turned around and left.

Tony began to save his work. I handed him back the paper, and he skimmed over it before putting it in a pile with the rest of his work. We rode up the elevator together. "So..", he said rocking on his feet. The doors opened to his flat. "Saturday then?" He looked at me expectantly. Was he asking me to come back?

"Yea- sure" I said hesitantly.

"Great." He walked out and the doors closed behind him.

* * *

**A/U: I know this chapter was short, but I just wanted to put something out there while I worked on the next few chapters. I'm sorry for not updating in so long. These past weeks have been really hectic. There was the homecoming game, pep rallies, and lots of homework. I had to have some oral surgery on my gums, and it really hurt. Anyway I'm back. So let's celebrate. Who wants to bring the cake? **

**What did you think? Let me know by reviewing.**


	11. Buster the Hobo

_** "You missed something." I pointed to an equation he had wrote out that was missing important variables. He looked over it carefully.**_

_**"I guess I did." He glanced at me then handed me the paper. "Do me a favor look over it."**_

_**I did so for about an hour before Pepper came down. "Mr. Stark, you are going to be late if you don't get ready now." Tony sighed and put down his stuff.**_

_**"5 more minutes Pepper. Then I'll get ready."**_

_**"Forget it. I remember last time you said that. I didn't see you for a whole day. I'll give you a second to wrap up." She turned around and left.**_

_**Tony began to save his work. I handed him back the paper, and he skimmed over it before putting it in a pile with the rest of his work. We rode up the elevator together. "So..", he said rocking on his feet. The doors opened to his flat. "Saturday then?" He looked at me expectantly. Was he asking me to come back?**_

_**"Yea- sure" I said hesitantly.**_

_**"Great." He walked out and the doors closed behind him.**_

* * *

_**Abigail's P.O.V.  
**_

_**June 28, 2003**_

I was lazily thrown on the couch in Tony's lab. It had been nearly a month since he had first invited me to come back, despite what he says otherwise. I have to admit it wasn't as bad as you'd think. After the first 2 weeks, days like these were normal. I wasn't there all the time. I mean I still had an internship to commit to. Which was not getting any better. I couldn't let Eric know I was on to him, so I had to act friendly. Sadly Doctor Harrison thought we would be great lab partners. So that happened, and no matter how much I rolled my eyes and gave him pleading looks, he stood with his decision.

Anyway back to the moment. Tony and I had a pretty good thing going on. I'd find a nice comfy spot in 'my corner' of the lab, which was just where I always ended up somehow, and he would do his work across the room. I looked up from another book I found down there, and watched as Tony did some updates on JARVIS. I have admit I started getting curious about his whole demeanor. The past weeks I've only gotten a piece of the 'real' Tony Stark, and despite what everyone thinks he isn't _as_ unbearable_**.**_ No, he's more of a stubborn 6-year-old who is yet mature for his age.

I set the book down on the floor next to the couch, and got up. "Hey Stark, what time is it?" I had been here all day and as much as I wanted to live down here I had work in the morning.

"7:30." He yelled over his shoulder. I stretched, grabbed my messenger bag, and nodded a goodbye to Tony.

* * *

"Morning." I walked into lab one and set my stuff down on what Doctor Harrison said was now my desk. Allison was beside me going over some results from her newest experiment. After we began doing harder tasks around the labs we became permitted to work on our own projects.

"Look who actually showed up today." Eric walked into the room with a playful smirk on his face.

"Eric." I simply stated rolling my eyes. "Have you seen the file on the project we've been working on?" I started tearing my desk apart for it. That file contained very important stuff.

"Yea. I was just tweaking the formula it."

"Tweaking it? Why?"

"It's just that the goal is to be able to freeze a living thing without hurting it, right? So if we took out the bi-freeze solution, and added something stronger like liquid nitrogen, it would work longer due to the intensity of the chemical."

"Eric with the other chemicals added into the formula the nitrogen would explode. Which is why we stick to the original plan." I scolded him as I crossed my arms.

"Listen you have to trust me. I know for a fact that it'll work. We'll just need to re-adjust the formula." I saw Allison turn to scold Eric out of my peripheral vision.

"Re-adjust the formula! Eric you mean re-do the entire formula. It took so long to just figure out the minor components. You're not doing anything to it. I'm not gonna let you!" Eric was now angry. This was probably in the top 5 reasons I didn't want to work with him. If this whole trying to kill me fiasco never happened it would be #1. Eric never listened. He only wanted to do what he thought was right.

"Of course you won't. You know just for the record it would have taken a lot faster if you hadn't felt the need to micromanage everything. The file will be back on your desk before you know it." He turned and walked out fuming.

I huffed and turned back to my desk fixing up everything I tore apart. Today was going to be a long day.

I left at exactly 4 that day. After all the bickering I wanted to just go home. I stood in the subway waiting for the train to come. It was very crowded down there that day. A lot of people I had never seen before. The train that goes to my side of the city was usually vacant, because of that I had gotten to know the other usuals who took this train. For example there was this nice woman mid-60's who rode the train to and fro every day to take care of her grandchildren, her name was Amy. Then there was the scary drunk who would pass out in the back of the train 5 minutes in, his name was Buster.

I had only talked to Buster once. There were good reasons for that too. Reason #1 he was a drunk. Reason #2 the first and last time I talked to him. It was really late at night, and there was no one else on the train except us. I know scary. Now I didn't volunteer to start a conversation with him it just happened.

_"What's your name?", he said in a gruff voice. He was laying in one of the seat sideways, his elbow propping him up. I looked around no one else was there, 'is he talking to me?' I thought. 'No he's talking to the boogie man.' I rolled my eyes at my ignorance. _

_"Erica." I wasn't about to tell him my real name._

_"Buster." We fell into to silence until he started having a coughing fit. His dry coughs filled up the entire train until I couldn't take it anymore._

_"Do you want some water?" I tossed a bottle of water that I had saved from lunch at him. He picked it up and drank it. _

_"Thank you." He took another drink then set it down. "Why is someone like you riding the subway all alone at this time of night?" They way he said it was kinda judgy, but I didn't let it get to me. He was the one who was constantly passed out on the ratty old train seats.  
_

_"Work."_

_"Oh makes sense. Gotta do what ya gotta do...Still though I'm sure you could find someone to escort a dame like you. It's dangerous around here."_

_"No, I don't think I could." I ignored his weird fashion of talking._

_"Why not? Not even a family member?"_

_"Nope."_

_"Oh." I turned so I could face him completely. _

_"What about you?"_

_"What about me?"_

_"Any family?"_

_"Every ones got family. It's just a matter of if they're liven."_

_"Well, any living family?"_

_"Nah. My mother died as a nurse in WWII, dad was long gone, and brother got bagged while flying over German territory. Never knew the rest of my family. Apparently when my Mother had me it caused a scene between her family. They told her my father was no good, and one kid was good enough. She should have listened. He said he was going to get some more tobacco from the corner shop, you'd think it wouldn't take him 73 years."_

_"So you were born in the 30's?"_

_"Yup. It was so different back then. Men respected Women, Everything wasn't so expensive, and the food tasted a lot better too."_

_"Really?" I said with a light-hearted laugh. The train came to a complete stop and the doors opened. "This is my stop." I grabbed my things, and stood up. Before I stepped out the doors completely I heard call me. _

_"Wait!"_

_"Yea?"_

_"What's your real name?"_

_"I told you."_

_"No you didn't." He was now sitting up the best he could. The way he looked at me was like there was familiarity to my face. _

_"Abigail." I exited the train completely. He whispered something as the doors closed. I only caught the last part however._

_"Just be careful. Alright Abigail."  
_

It doesn't seem too much out of the ordinary, but something told me there was something more to him then what met the eye. For example he had this type of serial number thing that looked stamped on his skin. I had only gotten a good look at it once, but once was enough. As much as I wanted to pleasure my hearts curiosity, I think I had enough going on at the moment. I didn't want to be jumping of Sears Tower to my doom with strange men on my tail because of some hobo. So I decided to leave it alone.

Finally the train came and everyone boarded. I stood holding my stuff tight in case anyone wanted to try to steal it as the train began to move. As it began it's journey to my side of the city I noticed as soon as we came to those switching track the train took the opposite tunnel.

"We're going the wrong way." I muttered as we continued down the track. "Excuse me?" I called to the front of the carrier. I pushed through the crowd, and stopped at a security guard. "Which train route is this?"

"It's route 450." Yup this was the right route.

"Well in that case we're going the wrong way."

"The other way is closed for construction. The walls started to crumble yesterday."

"That's impossible I just took it this morning."

"Listen kid just take a seat." His whole manner was rude and aggressive. I would've sat down, but by the situation I could tell something was off.

"What's going on here. You're not a real guard" I walked closer so no one else could hear us.

"I said take your seat." This time he shoved me into the seat next to me. All of the lights went out, and the train came to a fierce stop. Next thing there were gun shots. Everyone started screaming. "Nobody move!" I heard the guard scream. The lights came back on now dimmed. There was smoke from the bullets, and on the floor lied Buster in a heap of blood.

People from the opposite side of the train pulled out guns too. "Get down Abigail." one of them screamed. I got down to my knees and crawled for cover. I ended up right next to Buster. Except I was hiding directly behind the seats. I felt something touch me, looking down I saw Buster.

"Listen to me closely.", he said barely audible. "I don't know if you're really her or not, but he's not dead."

"Who's not dead. This doesn't make any sense."

"He's looking for you."

So much for not getting involved.

He continued on like he had so much to say, but not enough time. Before he could utter another word a bullet came and hit him. I screamed and moved so I was completely inside of the seats little foot space. Bringing my knees to my chest I covered my ears, and squeezed my eyes shut. I thought maybe it would help.

After 30 minutes it finally stopped. I felt a firm pair of hands grab me and help me up. I didn't open my eyes until a couple of seconds later. I looked around the train to see bullet holes, and men and women thrown on the floor. Some of the other survivors were hysterical and incoherent. I didn't blame them. Right now I wanted to dissolve into a pile of a sobbing mess.

I looked at the person who had helped me up. He was wearing normal clothing and looked nothing out of the ordinary. "Miss Hienfield, we are going to have to take you with us." I nodded still comprehending what had just happened.

* * *

The debriefing room they put me in was cold and unwelcoming. It was decorated with a lovely cold metal table and two chairs to match. I shifted around trying to find a comfortable position which turned out to be harder than necessary.

After 1 hour of waiting someone finally came in. It was Coulson. He was holding files and wearing his usual black suit. "Abigail." He gave me a smile and sat down in front of me. "So we've had a productive day haven't we?"

"No. I was in the middle of a shoot out. You were doing God knows what." He chuckled and folded his hands.

"I've been about pulling some strings sort to speak."

"What for?" He sits back crossing his arms.

"There's someone out there who has posted a threat, and bounty for you being captured. All we have are some pretty confusing clues."

"What now?"

"Well I mean if it was up to me I would have you dive in head first. But sadly Fury thinks you'll need to work yourself up to higher clearance."

"Excuse me?"

"Welcome to SHIELD Abigail."


End file.
